1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a travelator conveyor for transporting passengers.
2. Related Art
Travelators intended for transporting people are known e.g. from the following patent documents: Japanese patent document JP 2003-20181, U.S. Pat. No. 1,689,201, U.S. Pat. No. 2,769,522, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,592,139. In these, the conveyor includes a large number of adjacent narrow belt loops, several such belt loops being arranged over the width of the conveyor to transport users of the travelator. The conveyor has a number of belt drums arranged parallel to each other, at a distance from each other and transverse to the trans-port direction of the conveyor. Each belt drum carries a number of belt pulleys placed side by side. In the following, the belt drum at the end of the conveyor is called the first belt drum. Placed next to it is a second belt drum. ‘Third belt drum’ here refers to one of the following belt drums adjacent to the second belt drum. Further, the conveyor comprises a number of mutually parallel endless belt loops, whose upper portions between the belt drums form the moving conveying surface of the conveyor. The belt loops in the end area of the conveyor comprise a number of first belt loops, which are passed over the first belt drum and the second belt drum. A number of second belt loops are passed over the second belt drum and the third belt drum so that they are interleaved with the first belt loops. From the second belt drum onwards over the length of the conveyor, the mutual arrangement of the belt loops is so implemented that they are interlaced with respect to each other in a comb-like fashion around each belt drum. Each belt loop is passed over two belt pulleys on two successive belt drums. Of each two closely adjacent belt loops on the same common belt drum that are passed over adjacent belt pulleys, one belt loop is passed over a belt pulley on the previous belt drum adjacent to the common belt drum while the other belt loop adjacent to the aforesaid belt loop is passed over a belt pulley on one of the following belt drums relative to the aforesaid common belt drums. The belt loops may be arranged to transmit power, or the power transmission may be implemented via external power transfer to the belt drums.
A comb plate is provided in the immediate vicinity of the end of the conveyor. The comb plate has a number of teeth substantially parallel to each other and spaced by a distance, the first belt loops being fitted to pass between these teeth. Moreover, the comb plate has an upper surface serving as a fixed step surface. A known solution is to place the comb plate immediately beside the first belt drum. A problem with this solution is that at the end of the conveyor between the first and the second belt drums there are first belts spaced so that between each two adjacent belts there remains a gap of a width at least equal to the belt width. For example, if the distance between belt drums is 150 mm and the belt width is 10 mm, gaps of 10 mm×150 mm are formed, which may cause harm when foreign objects get into the gaps. In addition, the upper surface of the comb plate is necessarily at a higher level than the conveying surface of the conveyor, so they have between them a threshold that the passenger may trip on.